‘Bad Santa 2′ Hires Writer-Director Steve Pink

It felt like the story of Willie - the safecracking mall Santa in 2003's 'Bad Santa' - was perfect as is, but star Billy Bob Thornton has recently been mentioning that he wants to do a sequel. That may come to pass as it looks like Steve Pink has been hired to rewrite and direct the film.

This news comes from Deadline. Pink is probably best known for his work on the 'Grosse Pointe Blank' and 'High Fidelity' screenplays, while he also directed 'Hot Tub Time Machine.' He's also recently directed some episodes of the show 'Children's Hospital.'

The first film was helmed by Terry Zigoff, whose career has hit a standstill, and was scripted by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who have since moved on to directing, and who had a minor hit last year with 'Crazy, Stupid, Love.' Unfortunately, two of the key cast member have passed on, with John Ritter dying shortly before the film was released, and Bernie Mac having passed away in 2008.

Thornton seems to love the character, so it's possible that they have a good idea where to take this, but it feels like they mined all the black comedy and pathos out of the character's alcoholic failure in the first film. But if they can find a way to go back to that material in an interesting way, we'll surely jump on board.